In a rapidly changing youth culture scene in Malta, substance abuse remains an unfortunate staple fact of life. More and more young people are coming into contact with a variety of substances in different social contexts and at younger ages, with peer pressure impinging on individual choices during adolescence, when personal development still needs to be consolidated.

The Malta Independent spoke to Anna Micallef, Caritas facilitator and coordinator within schools, about Caritas’ Primary Prevention Programme in Schools, managed by the Caritas Prevention Unit and supported by the HSBC Cares For Children Fund (HCCF). Ms Micallef gave us an overview of the important work Caritas does in the field of youth development and substance abuse prevention.

“Excessive alcohol intake is rampant among Maltese young people, with binge drinking at weekends and during village feasts,” said Ms Micallef. “Moreover, ecstasy, cannabis and inhalants are cheap and very easily available. And in each and every school you are sure to find drug users. This, coupled with the powerful social messages young people consume on a daily basis, is the context we work in.”

The Caritas Primary Prevention Programme has been up and running since 1989. Over the years, it has developed into a fully-fledged personal development programme that has moved with the times and grown with the scene. It not only includes sessions in class, but also acts on giving and receiving feedback from educators, follow-ups with both students and parents, the setting up of a self-help group, summer schools, a referral system, and customised services according to identified needs.

Through this programme, 17 church, state and independent schools are serviced each year, with a reach of approximately 2,000 students annually. The focus is on imparting the importance of making choices, on learning to say no to substance abuse and to negative peer pressure. Emphasis is placed on the importance of friendships and on the choice of friends.

“There is so much going on with adolescents,” said Ms Micallef. “In a social scenario that has become more and more influential, aggressive, distracting and enticing, Caritas feels the need to step up its prevention programme, to assist young people in handling the dynamics of socialising, formation of character and transition periods typical of adolescence.”

The programme covers detailed information about the effects of tobacco, alcohol abuse and drugs, delivered in an informal and fun manner, and in animated sessions including hands-on exercises, to which students can relate. This is packaged in a context of physical development and taking care of one’s health.

“In almost every class session, we are able to identify at least one individual at risk,” said Ms Micallef. “The questions they ask, the non-

verbals they manifest, all conspire to make such youngsters easy to spot.

“These students are then followed up by an inter-disciplinary team made up of an educator, a PSD teacher, the Caritas’ facilitator and members of the family. They are followed up throughout the day, during break time, to monitor the choice of friends, and on Monday mornings to recognise any effects of weekend behaviour. The progress made in these instances gives us the added motivation we need to keep fine-

tuning our programme and to continue obtaining tangible results,” said Ms Micallef.

The cost of running such a holistic and customised programme is high. It is to this end that HCCF’s support has been crucial to the maintenance and development of the programme over the years. Apart from covering facilitators’ salaries, the programme expenses also have to cover updated literature, class materials and a website for students.

“We are very grateful to HCCF for their continual support over the years to a programme that needs to keep pace with the demands and dynamics of an ever-changing

society,” said Ms Micallef. “HCCF’s sponsorship has helped us in a big way to maintain and continue to develop a programme that has such a high demand among numerous schools.”

Caritas also forms part of an inter-disciplinary team formed together with Oasi, Sedqa, state schools and The National Focal Point. The aim of this network is to pool resources to analyse the effectiveness and success of the programme.